Why Should I Have Mexican Car Insurance When I Travel To Mexico
The question arises as to where to purchase Mexican car insurance online and what it is that you should purchase.
First of all the Mexican government will not recognize a United States or Canada insurance policy. The only proof of financial responsibility that will be recognized by the Mexican officials is an insurance policy purchased from a Mexican insurance company. By Mexican law you are required to provide proof of financial responsibility when driving in Mexico. You should purchase your Mexican car insurance before you arrive at the border.
Please do your research and study all of the available material. A wide variety of coverages and plans are available to buy online. You can purchase a policy for as short as one day or as long as one year; many insurance companies will provide you with a discount if you purchase a longer period of time. Now, that might not be useful for you if you do not plan on returning during the next three hundred and sixty-five days, but if you do plan on returning it can be a big savings.
Be certain to purchase a combined single limit policy. Many insurance companies will use split limits, it is a way that they use to reduce payouts in the event of a claim. Because claims for pain and suffering are almost unheard of in Mexico most of the coverage should be for property damage. Coverages provided by split limits will reduce the amount of property insurance available.
Deductibles provided by a Mexican car insurance policy are handled quite a bit differently than they are in a United States insurance policy. A fixed deductible amount in the standard in the US, but that is not the case in Mexico. Mexican car insurance uses a variable deductible, usually somewhere between two and five percent of the value of the insured vehicle. That means that a vehicle with a value of twenty thousand dollars and a variable deductible of five percent would have an actual deductible of one thousand dollars. If you are not comfortable with a variable deductible you will have to do your homework, because fixed deductibles are available, but not widely available.
The other coverages that some would consider to be optional, but which are really essential are the legal aid and travel expense coverage. Without both of these offered coverages you will be paying for all of your own legal expenses until liability is determined, and that could be some time depending on the circumstances of the accident.
There are many different companies that offer policies that can be purchased online, with a simple three step process. Quote, buy, print. Do some research and make sure that you are getting the coverage that you need. It is cheaper to pay more for the right coverage than to buy a cheap policy that doesn’t offer the protection that you need.
Nobody wants to have an accident, and that is why they are called accidents. Make sure that in the unfortunate circumstance that you are involved in an accident that you have the right coverages.
